Connect-AzAccount

Connect to Azure with an authenticated account for use with cmdlets from the Az PowerShell modules.

Syntax

Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       [-Tenant <String>]
       [-AccountId <String>]
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-AuthScope <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-UseDeviceAuthentication]
       [-Force]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       -Credential <PSCredential>
       [-ServicePrincipal]
       -Tenant <String>
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-AuthScope <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       -Credential <PSCredential>
       [-Tenant <String>]
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-AuthScope <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       -CertificateThumbprint <String>
       -ApplicationId <String>
       [-ServicePrincipal]
       -Tenant <String>
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-AuthScope <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       [-SendCertificateChain]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       -ApplicationId <String>
       [-ServicePrincipal]
       -Tenant <String>
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       -FederatedToken <String>
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       -ApplicationId <String>
       [-ServicePrincipal]
       -Tenant <String>
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       [-SendCertificateChain]
       -CertificatePath <String>
       [-CertificatePassword <SecureString>]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       [-Tenant <String>]
       -AccessToken <String>
       [-GraphAccessToken <String>]
       [-MicrosoftGraphAccessToken <String>]
       [-KeyVaultAccessToken <String>]
       -AccountId <String>
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipValidation]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-AzAccount
       [-Environment <String>]
       [-Tenant <String>]
       [-AccountId <String>]
       [-Identity]
       [-Subscription <String>]
       [-AuthScope <String>]
       [-ContextName <String>]
       [-SkipContextPopulation]
       [-MaxContextPopulation <Int32>]
       [-Force]
       [-Scope <ContextModificationScope>]
       [-DefaultProfile <IAzureContextContainer>]
       [-WhatIf]
       [-Confirm]
       [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Connect-AzAccount cmdlet connects to Azure with an authenticated account for use with cmdlets from the Az PowerShell modules. You can use this authenticated account only with Azure Resource Manager requests. To add an authenticated account for use with Service Management, use the Add-AzureAccount cmdlet from the Azure PowerShell module. If no context is found for the current user, the user's context list is populated with a context for each of their first 25 subscriptions. The list of contexts created for the user can be found by running Get-AzContext -ListAvailable. To skip this context population, specify the SkipContextPopulation switch parameter. After executing this cmdlet, you can disconnect from an Azure account using Disconnect-AzAccount.

Examples

Example 1: Connect to an Azure account

This example connects to an Azure account. You must provide a Microsoft account or organizational ID credentials. If multi-factor authentication is enabled for your credentials, you must log in using the interactive option or use service principal authentication.

Connect-AzAccount

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
azureuser@contoso.com  Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 2: Connect to Azure using organizational ID credentials

This scenario works only when the user does not have multi-factor auth turned on. The first command prompts for user credentials and stores them in the $Credential variable. The second command connects to an Azure account using the credentials stored in $Credential. This account authenticates with Azure using organizational ID credentials.

$Credential = Get-Credential
Connect-AzAccount -Credential $Credential

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
azureuser@contoso.com  Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 3: Connect to Azure using a service principal account

The first command stores the service principal credentials in the $Credential variable. The second command connects the specified Azure tenant using the service principal credentials stored in the $Credential variable. The ServicePrincipal switch parameter indicates that the account authenticates as a service principal.

$SecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "Password123!" -AsPlainText -Force
$TenantId = 'yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy'
$ApplicationId = 'zzzzzzzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzzzzzz'
$Credential = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $ApplicationId, $SecurePassword
Connect-AzAccount -ServicePrincipal -TenantId $TenantId -Credential $Credential

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx    Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 4: Use an interactive login to connect to a specific tenant and subscription

This example connects to an Azure account with the specified tenant and subscription.

Connect-AzAccount -Tenant 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx' -SubscriptionId 'yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy'

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
azureuser@contoso.com  Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 5: Connect using a Managed Service Identity

This example connects using a system-assigned Managed Service Identity (MSI) of the host environment. For example, you sign into Azure from a virtual machine that has an assigned MSI.

Connect-AzAccount -Identity
Set-AzContext -Subscription Subscription1

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
MSI@50342              Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 6: Connect using Managed Service Identity login and ClientId

This example connects using the Managed Service Identity of myUserAssignedIdentity. It adds the user assigned identity to the virtual machine, then connects using the ClientId of the user assigned identity. For more information, see Configure managed identities for Azure resources on an Azure VM.

$identity = Get-AzUserAssignedIdentity -ResourceGroupName 'myResourceGroup' -Name 'myUserAssignedIdentity'
Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName contoso -Name testvm | Update-AzVM -IdentityType UserAssigned -IdentityId $identity.Id
Connect-AzAccount -Identity -AccountId $identity.ClientId # Run on the virtual machine

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy    Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 7: Connect using certificates

This example connects to an Azure account using certificate-based service principal authentication. The service principal used for authentication must be created with the specified certificate. For more information on creating a self-signed certificates and assigning them permissions, see Use Azure PowerShell to create a service principal with a certificate

$Thumbprint = 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'
$TenantId = 'yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy'
$ApplicationId = '00000000-0000-0000-0000-00000000'
Connect-AzAccount -CertificateThumbprint $Thumbprint -ApplicationId $ApplicationId -Tenant $TenantId -ServicePrincipal

Account                      SubscriptionName TenantId                        Environment
-------                      ---------------- --------                        -----------
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxx Subscription1    yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy AzureCloud

Account          : xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx
SubscriptionName : MyTestSubscription
SubscriptionId   : zzzzzzzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzzzzzz
TenantId         : yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy
Environment      : AzureCloud

Example 8: Connect with AuthScope

AuthScope is used to support scenario that data plane resources have enhanced authentication than ARM resources, e.g. storage needs MFA but ARM does not. Once AuthScope is specified, e.g. Storage, Connect-AzAccount will first login with storage scope https://storage.azure.com/, then silently require token for ARM.

Connect-AzAccount -AuthScope Storage

Account                SubscriptionName TenantId                Environment
-------                ---------------- --------                -----------
yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy    Subscription1    xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx     AzureCloud

Example 9: Connect using certificate file

This example connects to an Azure account using certificate-based service principal authentication. The certificate file, which is specified by CertficatePath, should contains both certificate and private key as the input.

$SecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "Password123!" -AsPlainText -Force
$TenantId = 'yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy'
$ApplicationId = 'zzzzzzzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzzzzzz'
Connect-AzAccount -ServicePrincipal -ApplicationId $ApplicationId -TenantId $TenantId -CertificatePath './certificatefortest.pfx' -CertificatePassword $securePassword

Account                     SubscriptionName TenantId                        Environment
-------                     ---------------- --------                        -----------
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx Subscription1    yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy AzureCloud

Example 10: Connect interactively using WAM

This example demonstrates how to enable the config for WAM (Web Account Manager) and use it to connect to Azure.

Update-AzConfig -EnableLoginByWam $true
Connect-AzAccount

Account                     SubscriptionName TenantId                        Environment
-------                     ---------------- --------                        -----------
xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx Subscription1    yyyyyyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyy-yyyyyyy AzureCloud

Parameters

-AccessToken

Specifies an access token.

Caution

Access tokens are a type of credential. You should take the appropriate security precautions to keep them confidential. Access tokens also timeout and may prevent long running tasks from completing.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-AccountId

Account Id / User Id / User Name to login with in Default (UserWithSubscriptionId) parameter set; Account ID for access token in AccessToken parameter set; Account ID for managed service in ManagedService parameter set. Can be a managed service resource ID, or the associated client ID. To use the system assigned identity, leave this field blank.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-ApplicationId

Application ID of the service principal.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-AuthScope

Optional OAuth scope for login, supported pre-defined values: AadGraph, AnalysisServices, Attestation, Batch, DataLake, KeyVault, OperationalInsights, Storage, Synapse. It also supports resource id like https://storage.azure.com/.

Type:String
Aliases:AuthScopeTypeName
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-CertificatePassword

The password required to access the pkcs#12 certificate file.

Type:SecureString
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-CertificatePath

The path of certficate file in pkcs#12 format.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-CertificateThumbprint

Certificate Hash or Thumbprint.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Confirm

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:cf
Position:Named
Default value:False
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-ContextName

Name of the default Azure context for this login. For more information about Azure contexts, see Azure PowerShell context objects.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Credential

Specifies a PSCredential object. For more information about the PSCredential object, type Get-Help Get-Credential. The PSCredential object provides the user ID and password for organizational ID credentials, or the application ID and secret for service principal credentials.

Type:PSCredential
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-DefaultProfile

The credentials, account, tenant, and subscription used for communication with Azure.

Type:IAzureContextContainer
Aliases:AzContext, AzureRmContext, AzureCredential
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Environment

Environment containing the Azure account.

Type:String
Aliases:EnvironmentName
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-FederatedToken

Specifies a token provided by another identity provider. The issuer and subject in this token must be first configured to be trusted by the ApplicationId.

Caution

Federated tokens are a type of credential. You should take the appropriate security precautions to keep them confidential. Federated tokens also timeout and may prevent long running tasks from completing.

Type:String
Aliases:ClientAssertion
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Force

Overwrite the existing context with the same name without prompting.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-GraphAccessToken

AccessToken for Graph Service.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Identity

Login using a Managed Service Identity.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:MSI, ManagedService
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-KeyVaultAccessToken

AccessToken for KeyVault Service.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-MaxContextPopulation

Max subscription number to populate contexts after login. Default is 25. To populate all subscriptions to contexts, set to -1.

Type:Int32
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-MicrosoftGraphAccessToken

Access token to Microsoft Graph

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Scope

Determines the scope of context changes, for example, whether changes apply only to the current process, or to all sessions started by this user.

Type:ContextModificationScope
Accepted values:Process, CurrentUser
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-SendCertificateChain

Specifies if the x5c claim (public key of the certificate) should be sent to the STS to achieve easy certificate rollover in Azure AD.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-ServicePrincipal

Indicates that this account authenticates by providing service principal credentials.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-SkipContextPopulation

Skips context population if no contexts are found.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-SkipValidation

Skip validation for access token.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Subscription

Subscription Name or ID.

Type:String
Aliases:SubscriptionName, SubscriptionId
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Tenant

Optional tenant name or ID.

Note

Due to limitations of the current API, you must use a tenant ID instead of a tenant name when connecting with a business-to-business (B2B) account.

Type:String
Aliases:Domain, TenantId
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-UseDeviceAuthentication

Use device code authentication instead of a browser control.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:DeviceCode, DeviceAuth, Device
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-WhatIf

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:wi
Position:Named
Default value:False
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

String

Outputs

PSAzureProfile